The Death Elevation

Its no secret that throughout history there is nothing like a good death to elevate the value of a guy, be it a Rock Star, Sportsman, Actor, Public Figure or even a Wrestler.

So which wrestlers who have died do you think benefit most from IWC and there love for 'what might have been?'

I'll get the ball rolling, I always felt Eddie Guerrero was massively over-rated, while deserving of a World Title reign, I just don't believe he was the be all and end all that he is made out to be

Interesting thread gaffer. I sort of agree with you with regards to Guerrero, while an excellent worker, he wouldn't make a list of all time greats in my opinion.

My pick would be Mike Awesome, the former ECW champs career dried up pretty quick, and after his death i seen many people talking about how he had all the tools to be a major star in the business. I don't buy it, as the only times he had good matches, was when he was in the ring with Masato Tanaka.

I saw a bit of Mike Awesome, never thought of him that highly myself, good enough, like you say, but I agree he is another one the IWC go on about, I just don't see it myself, each to there own I suppose

Mike Awesome was involved with FMW for a while too and yeah, seemed like an average big man to me.

Have to say Owen Hart's reputation really shot up, mainly because he hadn't won much really, no majors anyway. He was really good but people go a bit over the top when talking about him and how good he was.

Owen Hart is a good shout, but I always felt although it might have been a tad early for him, he was a better candidate to take the title off Bret than Bob Backlund and was certainly better value as champ than Diesel I always felt that they could have given him until hte Rumble 95 at least to see how his reign was going, it would have been easily fixed if it didn't pan out

Benoit too.

The way he went out means there's a lot of these annoying little individualists running around saying he was the best just because they think it's a "cool" and "unique" opinion to have. I'm not saying all the ones who like Benoit are like that but a good majority are. I think under the surface his reputation has increased. I personally thought he was a good mid carder but lacked a the personality needed to be a main eventer, thought he was an awful WWE champion, way too much talking involved.

Thats exactly it, I was having the same conversation with someone on 606 about Beniot and they kept using football teams to compare to Beniot, I don't know how that works but playing along I called Benoit Arsenal under George Graham, very effective but boring as hell

Beniot wasn't the best like many claim, just look at Kurt Angle, Beniot wasn't in the same league, yet Kurt had a personality as well, which pisses all over Beniot, he could have a good match but he couldn't tell a story in the ring

Two shout's, both been mentioned, but I feel were pushed for 2 different reason's...

THE ENTERTAINMENT FACTOR.
Eddie had the entertainment factor and a good gimmick that went along with it, it's great to have that in the main event picture every now and then, something that The Rock brought before him, but I dont think any body has brought the same factor since Eddie, which sadly I missed back then.

Maybe it's because I didn't catch it, but I feel that it's a good thing to have some one with that entertainment factor alternating in the upper midcard- main event.

THE BACKSTAGE GUY.
On Beniot, while it's no secret how I rated him, he was alway's seen as the wrestler's wrestler, which (aside from his close relationship with Eddie) was probably a factor in giving him the belt, yes, poiltic's, not exactly the bad kind of politic's, but he probably wouldn't've got any where near the main event if he wasn't such a backstage guy. Had Dean Melenko been wrestling at the time I feel he could well have been pushed the same. No annimosity at all, we all know how I feel, no point keeping bring it up every thread Benoit's name is brought up in.

I always liked Malenko though, I always got the impression that Beniot copied Malenkos 'no nonsense' style, that being said, maybe my opinion of Malenko would change if he was given a main event spot

His programme with Chris Jericho in WCW was absolutely gold though

I've got to agree that for some people Benoit's reputation grew after his death. I personally don't fall into that category as he was always one of my favourite guys to watch. A lot of people seem to think that his title reign flopped, but I'm pretty sure that ratings actually went up slightly under Benoit.

Benoit was one of those guys who no matter who he wrestled, always made his opponent look good. techinally, he was excellent, mayeb not in the same league as Kurt or Bret Hart, but alkways capable of a damned good match.

My shout, painful as this is going to be, is Davey Boy Smith. Although he was in my favourite macth of all time at Summerslam 1992 against Bret, he never won the big one, and was never really a serious threat for the big one. I think he's as fondly remembered by the Brits because he was the only English guy in WWF for years, and had the most believable personality of a Brit in WWF/E ever. He got too messed up on drugs, and aside from the Bret match, I'm struggling to remember any other great matches he had. In the Bulldogs tag team, Dynamite Kid was the star.

I openly admit that Davey was one of the big reasons WWF became so popular in the UK when he was in it, but when he was alive, an upper mid-carder at best. Not the potential Hall of Famer people are suggesting.

I think Smith was a serious contender for the belt in 1996, I really thought he and Shawn should have swapped the title once or twice, would rather have seen Smith win the strap than Sid

some people may not agree with me on this one. but i feel that chris candido was also someone who's profile rose after his death.

while i do feel he was a decent performer. he was never anything major in WCW or in TNA and i dont think he ever would have been.

the IWC massivly hyped "what should have been" with chris candido and i think it was mainly a case of jumping on the band waggon. any championship he held, he didnt hold it with much distinction at all.

I really enjoyed Candido's team with Lance Storm in ECW, those two working together could put on some great matches. I actually think Candido has always been a highly underrated wrestler, whose career was harmed by his time in WWE as a jobber, and his drug use.

I thought Owen Hart could have gone along way he was very talented. The one I do miss is the British Bulldog and the Texas Tornado and of course Mr Perfect. All very talented

JohnReid1 wrote:

I thought Owen Hart could have gone along way he was very talented. The one I do miss is the British Bulldog and the Texas Tornado and of course Mr Perfect. All very talented

Did you read what the thread was about?

The thread seems irrelevant to that fella. Seriously, look at all his post and everyone no matter what the thread is about just harks back to the old days lol.

I was wondering how Andre would fit into all of this and if his death actually did enhance his reputation or not. I mean, he (as a figure) brought the pro-wrestling world a million miles forward in an era before anybody else truly memorable by most fans really. I always thought doing what he did in the 70's was far more important than what Hogan did in the 80's.

His death was sort of natural as well and people were almost ready for it if that makes a difference. Wasn't really sudden or anything. So I don't really think Andre's legacy changed all that much with his death, I think he did enough to warrant all the praise he gets.

I was never a fan of Andre, however I started watching when he was on the way down in 1989 but even looking back a couple of years earlier I didn't get him much, I have posted some stuff of Andre on here from the 80s and even that didn't impress me, I think the Big Show is a far better 'Giant' than Andre ever was and can actually work a match

Nah, you misunderstand what I'm on about with Andre.

Compared to now, he was awful, makes Khali look like Bret Hart. But Andre came around in the mid-60's when pro-wrestling was almost embryonic. He came along and took it on leaps and bounds from what it was. He created the entire idea of a show and the idea of pro-wrestling being entertainment. The amount of interest he generated for WWF (maybe WWWF, can't remember) was incredible and brought the sport on so much more than Hogan did IMO. He even played a big part in getting Hogan really over as he was still billed as undefeated when Wrestlemania 3 came around. That's why I think he deserves so much credit.